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For over 20 years Wycliffe Barrett has been involved in flight simulation. From creating atmospheric freeware sceneries, to covering the latest simulator developments at his blog, Wycliffe covers it all. Here in this video op-ed he shares some of his thoughts about the current state of the hobby, and what we can all do to help make it even better.

Six years ago, on February 29, 2012, Microsoft released their final attempt at a flight simulator, Microsoft Flight. The ill-fated sim proved to be a flop in the marketplace and Microsoft pulled it in less than six months. While the marketing method behind it was a failure was the sim itself all that bad? Michael Hayward looks back and offers his thoughts in words and video.

Dovetail Games, with their announcement of Flight Sim World, brings a brand-new flight simulator for 2017 to the hobby. It will initially be available in an "Early Access" version -- basically a version that is not quite finished and encourages user feedback. In this op-ed, Michael Hayward examines what we know so far and offers his opinions on what this means for the flight simulation hobby.

The future of the flightsim pastime we love so much is in our own hands, so says author Paul Mort. He suggests that you don't take a back seat and leave it to other people to make their contribution. Encourage scenery and object makers by giving them constructive feedback. And finally, please participate by having a profile so we get to know you.

Twenty years ago on this very day FlightSim.Com first opened to the public. Given the short lifespan of many online sites it feels pretty amazing to have lasted this long. Please join us in celebrating this event. In this op-ed, FlightSim.Com founder Nels Anderson gives some thoughts about the past and the future.

Do you prefer flying in one airliner type over another? Based on some recent experiences, Ron Blehm compares the Boeing 737-900 "cattlecar" versus the Airbus A320 "scarybus" and offers up his experiences and a conclusion of sorts...

William Friedman has been a real world pilot for over 25 years as well as a long-time flight simmer. In those years many things have changed, one area being the maps, charts and other data we use to plan and navigate a flight. Whether flying for real or flightsimming, these days an EFB (electronic flight bag) is the way to go.

Mahmoud A. Fadli describes his passion for flight. But just flying the planes was not enough, not when he realized he could own and operate the airline too. Read his op-ed describing how his passion has translated into many years running a successful virtual airline.

We've mentioned this scam before but it keeps coming back so it's time to mention it again. The "new" simulator that keeps showing up under a variety of names like "Flight Sim Pro" or "Virtual Pilot 3D" is nothing more than FlightGear, the open source simulator created and released under the GNU GPL terms and which is totally free to use.